


Moving Mishaps

by SamanthaGirlScout



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Crack, Fluff and Crack, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 16:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20392420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamanthaGirlScout/pseuds/SamanthaGirlScout
Summary: The best advice that Mai could give someone when moving?Triple check that you have everything packed before your movers arrive.





	Moving Mishaps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tiffo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiffo/gifts).

It didn’t take long for Mai to realize that, from now on, most moments in her life would involve her newly formed family in one way or another.

She saw them in quiet moments outside of work. She would run into John while grocery shopping. Yasuhara helped her study for her entrance exams. Occasionally she and Masako met at a café down the street for tea. And Madoka made it a point to take her out whenever she was in town.

They were there for the louder moments, too.

Ayako took her shopping for an outfit for her first date. Then, on said date, Monk just “happened to be passing through” and stayed long enough to judge the other participant. Masako took it upon herself to then pick up the poor girl and interview her in order to ascertain how fit she would be to be dating her…

Which then led to their eventual breakup.

Masasko, of course, was apologetic. Mai, of course, forgave her. But, Lin and Naru, who were the ones to bear witness to the anger and sadness that plagued her for weeks, took much longer to do so.

Of all the things that she shared with her family, she kept her college entrance results a secret. It wasn’t as though they were negative. Quite the opposite— she had been accepted most of the places that she had applied for. And it wasn’t because she didn’t appreciate everyone’s help and guidance.

She just wanted to make the decision by herself.

There were quite a few places that she liked in Tokyo. In fact ,one of them was only a short distance from where she currently lived. But there were also a few that she had applied to on a whim farther away. Her reasons for pursuing them were for superficial reasons such as pretty campuses and surrounding landscapes, but the idea of gaining even more independence was also enticing.

In the end, though, those ideas were thrown out after a particularly dangerous case. Mai knew that everyone would continue to do what they could to help those affected by the supernatural and she couldn’t stand the thought of being far away and unable to help in sticky situations. So, after they were safe and sound back in Tokyo, she announced her attendance to the university that Masako would be attending.

Everyone was happy for her. John gave her his signature smile. Monk picked her up and hugged the breath from her. Lin congratulated her with a pat on the head. Ayako offered to help her shop for supplies. Masako offered to room with her. Yasuhara offered his tutoring skills, at a price of course. And Naru…

Well, Naru stayed as stoic as always and merely nodded at her before retreating to his office.

The weeks flew by after that. Her graduation ceremony, and ensuing party held at the office, came and went. And then, without warning, She was moving out of her apartment to live with Masako.

And, for better or worse, everyone was there to help her move.

* * *

Surprisingly, Naru was the first to arrive.

“Oh!” Mai said as she answered the door nearly an hour before everyone was supposed to arrive. “You’re early.”

“I figured that you would have some last minute items to pack.” Naru took in her partially packed flat before shaking his head. “Though I hadn’t imagined it to be as bad as this.”

Mai had to take a few steps back as Naru entered without invitation.

“Well, I would have had plenty of time to pack if _someone_ hadn’t planned a case the week before my moving date!”

“Mai, you’ve had nearly two months to pack.”

Mai scoffed. “Not all of us can live out of boxes for months on end, Naru.”

Naru shot her an unamused look before setting the contents of his hands, a large brown paper bag with a plethora of supplies spilling from the top, onto her small dining table. He spied her kettle and set about filling it with water. Mai sighed to herself as she shut the door.

“Make yourself at home, I guess.”

“A bit of tea shouldn’t be seen as much of an inconvenience for free labor.”

“Of course, but it’s still rude to just walk into someone’s house uninvited!”

“If you’d like me to leave, I would be more than happy to oblige.”

Mai was about to retort, but something about the look in Naru’s eyes brought her up short. She let loose a sigh and allowed the defensiveness in her shoulder to fall away with it.

“No. You can stay. I was just surprised is all. You could have texted me to give me a little bit of warning at least! What if I hadn’t been dressed?”

Naru shrugged. “Then you could have turned me away and I would have returned when the others would be arriving. Or I could have waited in the hall.”

Mai simply stared at him. She could tell by the way he wasn’t looking at her that there was something more to what he had to say, but, at that moment, her kettle chose to beep. He immediately busied himself with making two cups of tea.

Mai continued to stare at him as she tried puzzle out exactly why he had shown up unannounced. Naru was known for his punctuality. And, despite his frosty demeanor, he was considerate for others almost to a fault. And, normally, he _would_ give her a heads up if he chose to come by.

So that left…

“You broke your phone, again, didn’t you?”

Naru nearly spilled the tea out of Mai’s cup as he went to set it in front of her.

“Oh my god,” Mai laughed. “Naru it isn’t even the end of March! You can’t tell me that you’ve already broken two phones.”

“It isn’t my fault that Lithium ion batteries cannot withstand psychokinetic charges,” Naru said as he grumpily sat across from her. He refused to meet Mai’s eyes as she started to laugh.

“Well, if you would stop losing your charging cords then—”

“Mai.”

“Yes?”

“Tea.”

Naru gestured to the cup that he had set before her. She was tempted to tease him more, but chose to spare his feelings. She picked up the cup and took a sip. Most everyone in the office assumed that he couldn’t make tea. Why else did no one ever see him make a cup for himself in the office?

But that simply wasn’t true. Mai knew from the occasional times that she was late or sick that he could make it just fine on his own. It was just that, when she was on the clock, he liked to take advantage of her ability to do so. And, because she was being paid to do so, she didn’t mind too much.

Besides, Naru couldn’t possibly function without at least one cup of tea.

“How much packing do you have left?”

“Mostly just the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom areas.”

Naru took another sip of his tea, sighed, and stood. Reaching into the bag he pulled out a pack of deconstructed boxes and packing tape. Mai opened her mouth to tell him that she had plenty of boxes, but shut it and let him go about what he was doing. She could never have enough boxes, and often times it was better to not point out such things lest Naru feel awkward and take back his attempts at human kindness.

First Naru evaluated everything in her cupboards. She didn’t necessarily have much, but it was enough for Naru to look from the boxes to the open cupboards and back again. He then went about constructing them. He paused as he took out the first plate, looked at the box, and then looked at her.

“Do you have newspaper?”

“No, but I have a lot of hand towels. Give me a moment.”

Mai stood and hurried off to her bathroom, opened the small cupboard under the sink, and retrieved a sizeable stack of hand towels and body towels. Naru assessed the stack as she approached and set them on the counter. He picked one up and examined its frayed edges.

Mai expected him to say something snarky about the state of her belongings, but instead he merely went to work packing them. She stood there watching him for a time before going to pack herself.

Silence enveloped the apartment as they worked.

It had the same comfort as when she was at the office.

She wouldn’t ever admit it to anyone, but she was grateful for Naru’s early appearance. She had been unnecessarily overwhelmed with the task this past week. Even though she didn’t necessarily have a lot of belongings, the idea of moving onto a new chapter of her life had stalled her progress many times.

But, with the appearance of Naru, the task felt much more manageable.

* * *

It wasn’t too much later that everyone else started arriving.

Lin, who had generously offered to drive the equipment van, was the next person to show up. He didn’t seem all that surprised that Naru was already there. Instead, he merely offered each of them a greeting and began walking around the apartment evaluating what would need to be moved.

Everyone else slowly trickled in soon after. John was quick to start helping Naru finish packing the kitchen area. Masako helped label boxes. Yasuhara ‘supervised’ Mai moving her packed boxes from the bathroom. Ayako assigned herself the task of making sure that her clothes were 'properly packed’. And, lastly, Monk consulted with Lin about the arrangement of items and furniture.

As each new member arrived, the volume in the tiny space multiplied. Even though this was one of the few occasions that everyone gathered together outside of work, there was still an ease that made it seem as though they were simply tearing down base.

That was until they actually started moving things.

“Alright,” Monk said as everyone gathered amongst the stacks of boxes. “Lin and I are going to go ahead and start moving some of the larger pieces of furniture. Once we do that, then everyone can start bringing boxes down. Anything that doesn’t fit in the van can go in my trunk.”

“And what if everything doesn’t fit, Fake Boss?” Yasuhara asked.

Monk shot him an annoyed glare.

“Then we’ll make a second trip, obviously.”

“I don’t have that much, Yasu!” Mai said with a huff.

“I don’t know,” Yasuhara said as he pretended to seriously survey the small apartment. “It might even take us thr—”

“You’re wasting all of our time. Don’t forget that this is only half of the work that has to be done,” Naru said.

“Yes, Big Boss..”

“If you’re done, would one of you please open the doors for us,” Lin said as he walked over to where Mai’s mattress was located. Monk followed behind and positioned himself at the opposite end.

“Would you like me to help, too?” John asked. “ Maneuvering furniture might be a bit difficult going down those stairs.

"That’d be great John,” Monk said as he shifted the mattress. With little effort, he and Lin shifted it onto its side revealing the wooden frame underneath. The pair picked it up and John followed alongside as they made their way to the door.

“I can get the doors,” Masako said walking ahead of the men.

As the four made their way down the hallway Ayako let out an annoyed sigh.

“I hope that she doesn’t expect to get out of carrying boxes by offering to get the door.”

“Why? Because she beat you to the punch?” Naru asked with a smirk.

Ayako glared at him. “No! But you should appreciate the fact that I am willing to risk breaking a nail to help Mai.”

“I’m grateful that everyone was willing to come and help,” Mai said, face sincere.

“Of course we were!” Yasuhara said as he slung an arm around Mai. “Besides, the prospect of free food is something that no college student can possibly pass up! In fact, it’s the most important thing that you can learn before you start in a month.”

“What do you mean ‘free’?” Ayako asked as she rounded on the current college student.

Mai shot Yasuhara a glare as he froze up. He looked once at Mai, back to Ayako, and then, in a last ditch effort, to Naru. No matter where he looked he found no help. He pulled his arm away from Mai and scratched at the back of his neck.

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“I believe Mai intended to pick up the bill before anyone noticed,” Naru said.

“Yasu,” Mai whined, “You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!”

“Mai.” Ayako crossed her arms "I know that you have been living on your own for a while now, but you’re soon going to be paying for tuition and books. And—"

“I know, but I saved up! And paying for food is _so_ much cheaper than a moving company would have been. And I wanted to show just how grateful I am for everyone pitching in!”

“And what would you have done if a check never showed up at the table?” Naru asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Mai blinked.

“Never… Why wouldn’t the check show up?”

Yasuhara snickered into his hand. Mai whirled around to glare at him. Instead of silencing his laughter, though, it only served to make him lose all of his composure completely.

“Well—” Yasuhara took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. “Well played, Big Boss.”

“What’s going on?” Monk asked as he and the others re-entered the room.

“Oh, Mai here thought that she was going to pay for our meals. But I’m pretty sure that, when Big Boss called in the reservation, he also prepaid for the meal.”

“But I saved up money…” Mai pouted as most everyone laughed at the situation.

Monk walked over and lightly ruffled her hair before giving her a side hug.

“Don’t be too upset, Jou-chan. Look at it this way: now you have more money to spend on yourself. Besides, I don’t think anyone of us would have been able to live with ourselves if you’d gotten away with it.”

“Except for, Yasuhara. Apparently,” Ayako said.

“What can I say. College changes a person.”

Lin sighed. “John. Could you please help me shift this frame from the wall?”

“Of course,” John said.

Lin moved to the head while John moved to the foot of the bed. The wooden frame, while looking to be light, was in fact much heavier than expected, causing John to struggle to pick up his side. Monk quickly disentangled his arm from Mai’s side and rushed over to help.

“Yasuhara,” Monk said, slightly winded as he set the bed down once the bed was a short distance from the wall, “We’re going to need you on this one.”

“Sure thing, Fake Boss!”

“Why the heck do you keep calling me 'Fake Boss’?”

“Well, for one,” Yasuhara said as he began to tick off on his left hand as he approached. “Both Boss and Big Boss are here so I can’t call you that. Secondly, you always seem to take charge when they don’t. And, thirdly, I thought calling you the love of my life in front of the others would—”

“Shou—”

“See what I mean?!”

“Mai?” John said in a quiet voice as he approached her. He seemed to be trying to not gain the attention of the others. A small knot of dread started to form in Mai’s stomach from the bright blush coloring his face.

“Yeah, John?” Mai asked.

“I think that you may want to retrieve, ah, _something_ from the floor before someone—”

“Oh my god, Mai!” Yasuhara cried “Is that a vibrator?”

Absolute silence filled the room.

And then everyone was speaking all at once.

Monk took a scandalized step back. “Jou-chan you told me that the two of you never—”

“Please tell me that you take proper care of those things,” Ayako began, “You know that they can melt together and—”

“And you’re barely _eighteen_! How on earth did you—”

“While I most certainly don’t partake in anything like that,” Masako said, a blush coloring her own face. “I only ask that you are _discreet_ with anything you do with others or by your—”

“I know how you like share with others, but I hope that you know not to share anything like that with someone else unprotected. If you need help finding the right kind of protection, I would be more than willing to help you find the right condoms or dental—”

“Hey if you’re ever lonely,” Yasuhara added, “I could help you find the right guy, gal, or non-binary pal who would love to—”

“But, if you _do_ decide to be… adventurous I ask you to warn me and clean up after yourself. I don’t think that I could handle walking in on—”

“You know what. No. I don’t want to know, Jou-chan. I can’t stand thinking about—”

A shrill whistle pierced the air.

Everyone turned in surprise to find Naru glaring. Except for Mai. All she could do was bury her face in her hands in mortification. She knew they all meant well, but she was relieved that someone was willing to spare her an early death via embarrassment.

Or, well, spare her for the time being. Seeing as how she was highly confident that she'd never live this down.

“We have less than an hour and a half before the parking meter on the van expires,” Naru said, unamused. “So, unless you all are willing to have the fine deducted from your next paycheck, I suggest that you move that bed frame immediately.”

A chorus of subdued 'okay’s echoed throughout the room.

“The four of you carry that frame to the van. Masako get the doors. And Ayako follow them to make sure that everything goes smoothly.”

No one said a word as they did as instructed.

As soon as everyone had left the room Mai dashed over and retrieved the sparkly purple _thing _that had caused her so much embarrassment. Thankfully, after a quick inspection, she found that there were only bunnies of the dust variety and a few yen left in the aftermath. She went to stuff it in backpack when a puzzled voice startled her.

“Shouldn’t you wash it before putting it away?”

Mai’s face flared anew as she sent a genuinely curious Naru the most scathing glare that he had ever seen. He took a step back and brought his hands up in a placating manner.

“My mistake.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this silly little thing! This was gifted to Tiffo back in 2017, but I forgot to post it back then XD Hope you enjoyed this and please let me know what you thought!


End file.
